Skin Salt and Hypertension

HBPR: MRI May Link Skin Salt to Hypertension

By Chris Kaiser, Cardiology Editor, MedPage Today

Published: September 23, 2011

Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner

MR images of the calves of a 25- and 68-year-old volunteer. No difference in sodium level in the anatomic section (dashed boxes), but the different intensities refer to sodium concentrations (brighter= more sodium). Image provided by P. Linz.

Action Points

Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

• Explain that a study of skin sodium using MRI found that sodium concentrations increased with age as does the incidence of hypertension.
• Note that the study was performed in five healthy volunteers of differing ages.

ORLANDO -- Move over kidneys, brain, and blood vessels because there may be a new organ involved in hypertension control – the skin.

Not only does the skin store sodium that is possibly related to hypertension, but the amount of sodium can be assessed with an MRI scan, Peter Linz, PhD, from Friedrich-Alexander-University in Erlangen, Germany, and colleagues found.

The levels of sodium in the skin of five